


to hell with the rest

by transvav



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: ?? i guess, GTA AU, M/M, Not really though, also this took a lot longer than i wanted it to tbh, female jack too, i finished it, it was a pain in my ass but, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 21:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2285202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transvav/pseuds/transvav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan thinks he knows everything about Gavin. He still has some things to learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to hell with the rest

**Author's Note:**

> this took a lot of work and i'm kind of ashamed that it did? the prompt was my own: deadloxie.tumblr.com/post/97120032702/title-to-hell-with-the-rest-pairing-freewood   
> and yeah i kind of regret that.

Ryan can’t believe how he got into a ragtag crew of once-druggies now mercenaries. Dragged into Los Santos for a job, he can recall, some rich kid on the run. Good pay just to bring the boy back alive. But he’d been pulled into some type of heist shit and found himself in good company eventually, even after his immediate disapproval of this group. A big boss type guy, with a villain mustache and arms completely covered in ink, leading a group that consisted of a young Puerto Rican, a red-headed hot head, a woman with more sense than the entirety of them put together, and a cocky british shit who seemed to do nothing but annoy all the rest.  
Ryan grew to enjoy himself when working with them. After a while, he found himself coming out of what he’d usually call his ‘professional’ shell, becoming increasingly more comfortable around them. Him, Geoff, and Jack- the boss man and the lady- were the three eldest, the gents, as they’d so graciously been named, making Jack laugh at the thought. Geoff had simply thrown an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, and loudly proclaimed in a bit of a drunken slur that _“Jack is ten times the man any of us’ll ever be- and a thousand times the woman any of us’ll ever get!”  
_ Geoff had turned out to be an incredibly lax person, with the laugh of a hyena, and the incredible power of having a bottle of some type of alcohol on him at all times, even during the middle of a heist. He held a special type of relationship with all of them, often times calling them his kids, in most cases his greatest mistakes. Although Geoff’s position in the group had him as the overall boss, often times it seemed as if Jack was the one with more power. She managed to keep a level head in all cases, bringing most conversations back on track, and getting people’s head in the right places. She also seemed to have the most connections to get certain types of vehicles, something Ryan couldn’t say he had considering his background. Both of them were very easy to get along with, and conversations between the three of them were very rarely any type of boring as long as they had nothing to do with work.  
The three others- Ray, Michael and Gavin- had proclaimed themselves as the lads. They had an energy the gents didn’t have, as well as a wild streak and a younger view of the world. The biggest difference was only a couple of years, but it made a difference. Michael was the oldest, with the patience of a five year old, and the vocabulary of- well, he had an incredible vocabulary. He was incredibly loud, but in reality, was very rarely actually angry, and often times had no trouble getting straight to business. Ryan didn’t mind his company a bit, and the two had their arguments, but they generally got along well.  
Ray had a more modern type of humor, which at first lead Ryan to believe they wouldn’t be able to get along. Once again, he was proven wrong- Ray was funny in many ways, and Ryan found himself easily in conversation with the youngest of their group. Ray had the type of skills that let him do what he needed to do without even trying, and he knew it, but he wasn’t an incredible dick about it. Ray and Michael weren’t too bad- Ryan was okay with them.  
And then there was Gavin.  
Sweet, naive, clumsy little Gavin.  
Who, Ryan learned, was _none_ of these things.  
Gavin was a manipulative shit who’d used his skills to wrap the entire crew around his pinky finger. They would complain, and yell, and get angry- but they did everything for him. Geoff had explained that he’d picked Gavin up off the streets, a skinny lanky kid who had an affinity for stealing things straight out of people’s hands. He hadn’t expected to grow so attached to him, calling him his own son at times, training him to do things that Gavin never ended up being good at doing. Gavin was reliant on everyone else, a liability, seemingly useless, an overgrown british child that was no help at all.  
And Ryan was enthralled.  
He knew Gavin couldn’t possibly know- unless the Brit was watching his eyes, which he probably wouldn’t, the skull mask covered Ryan’s entire face, and no one knew who he was watching or what he was feeling. There was something about Gavin that was off, and it made Ryan wonder.

 

It took the both of them a while- okay, a year or two- to get over the whole ‘I don’t hate you, you don’t hate me’ thing, and by the time they did, Ryan actually learned a lot more about the Brit.  
How his entire closet was full of expensive clothing and a pair of $500 sunglasses, and yet he barely had the money to buy himself a new bike or ammo. He could barely drive the bike, or any car for that matter, but could handle himself decently well in a plane. He made stupid noises, couldn’t hold a gun for his life, asked confusing questions that made no sense, and screamed in an incredibly unique fashion.  
The others, most times, found Ryan incredibly disturbing and creepy (but who could blame them, he was pretty fucked up). They always laughed it off, of course, and everything went back to normal. Gavin’s gaze seemed to linger for a bit. And Ryan noticed. Because Gavin was a curious kid. Of course he’d be intrigued, just as wondrous of Ryan as Ryan was of him. Ryan can’t believe himself for not noticing before.  
Maybe it was just because he’d been so involved with figuring out how to make Gavin not hate him.  
And now he didn’t. Turned out he never had. It was always just a mutual fear (a fear that Ryan couldn’t believe himself having- upset over that fact that this kid hated him, why in hell should that even bother him?), and once they’d gotten over it, it was easy sailing. They clicked. Ryan actually bothered to attempt to answer Gavin’s metaphorical questions, and in turn Gavin, on occasion, came to Ryan’s defense when his psychotic side showed.   
Ryan found Gavin enjoyable to be around in more ways than one- the more they talked, the more time he had to actually look at the younger one, and he noticed that there were a lot of things about Gavin he hadn’t seen before. And he slowly realized that over the next few months that this was it. This was his downfall. A skinny british twink with messy hair and a too-big nose and upperclass clothing- a kid that could barely walk, let alone fight. Gavin was everything to him, and he’d been manipulated just as badly as the rest, if not worse. Because as stupid and annoying and anger inducing Gavin was, as much of an asshole as he really was, Ryan fell for him. And it was so stupid that he was pulled in so fucking easily. Not like he ever really had a chance.

  
“Team Love n’ Stuff,” or something like that, was what Gavin had dubbed them one night, giddy with excitement over the completed heist from that day, as well as with a bit of alcohol. Ryan had laughed it off, and the conversation had lulled into team names between two individuals. Some of them were easier and had already been created- OG, Nice Dynamite, Better Friends. He stopped paying attention, instead deciding to watch the people around them from the corner of his eye, hoping to pick up some other useful conversations.  
“Last name? You seriously never bothered to figure out our last names?”  
Ryan’s neck probably would have snapped if he turned his head any faster- this, this was a touchy subject. If they learned his last name, he was screwed over, because there was always someone listening, someone he couldn’t trust.  
“You don’t need to know it, so shove off.”  
Gavin’s cold tone startled everyone. He always seemed cheery, unless he was whining, and to hear him express anger was just _strange._ His face was set in stone, and his gaze would probably be freezing if he took his glasses off. “Just leave it,” he muttered, clearly upset, and he dropped his bottle back onto the table. He squeezed his way past Ryan to get to the door of the bar, and Ryan watched him go. The conversation was dropped quickly as the others moved onto different things. Gavin’s temper had been taken into account, however, and no one dared speak of surnames again.   
Eventually when there was a lull in the chatter, Ryan stood and stretched, then slipped a twenty on the table and walked out onto the streets. The metal awning on the front of the club was a bit worn down, with leaks and holes to let the rain through. He looked at the street for a second, watching the cars pass by and the trails they left behind on the wet blacktop before he went to walk back to his bike.  
And there was Gavin, leaning against the side wall of the building, head in one hand and sunglasses in the other hanging limply at his side. Ryan stood there, just watching, waiting for- well. Not even he knew what he was waiting for.  
“Hey.”  
Gavin jolted in surprise, but besides moving his glasses back onto his face, he did nothing else to acknowledge the older man.  
“Thanks for the whole last names thing- you really saved my ass.”  
“Didn’t do it for you.”  
“Who’d you do it for, then?”  
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, with nothing but cars zooming by and the muffled clatter of the club to fill it. A few moments passed before Gavin huffed, pushing himself off from the wall and beginning to walk back towards where they’d all parked, and Ryan found himself reaching out for Gavin’s arm, pulling him back. Maybe he put too much strength into it, or maybe Gavin was just clumsy as hell, but the kid actually stumbled and began to fall backwards. Ryan caught him against his chest and quickly stepped back a bit with a sigh. “Gav. You can tell me this, ok?”  
“Can I kiss you?”  
The question was so unexpected that this time it might as well have been Ryan falling backwards this time. A million different versions of yes flew through his mind before he realized that his mask had already been pushed up and Gavin’s lips were already on his. He reveled in the momentary warmth that Gavin gave him as they pressed up against each other, but suddenly the younger pulled away, gave Ryan a long look, and turned away, walking off.   
Ryan watched him go, slipping his mask back on, too stunned to say a word. The taste Gavin was still on his lips as he walked off. It wasn’t until he was on his bike, driving back to his apartment that he realized two things.  
One was he’d let Gavin see his face. It wasn’t that big of a deal, or it wouldn’t be, he thought at first, because he wasn’t purely recognizable by just the face, and Gavin had probably been too drunk to remember. But then he recalled how Gavin had looked at him, how his gaze had lingered, how he’d so easily walked away without tripping at all.  
There hadn’t been any taste of alcohol on the younger, and that was the second thing, and that was his worry. If Gavin even remotely knew of anything, Ryan was completely screwed over, which could be a huge problem. He entered his apartment with the inclination of being prepared to pack his things and leave if he needed to. But something stirred in his mind, and he sighed, dropping onto the couch and closing his eyes to think. He couldn’t just up and leave them, not yet. He’d give it a day, to explain, and then he’d go.

 

Ryan told himself he’d tell them when it came up. Gavin would confront him in front of the others, he’d defend himself, and then he’d leave. He braced for the worst as he went to see them- of course it didn’t show, but he was a bit nervous. He didn’t want to leave, he was so comfortable around them and for the first time, he didn’t mind being in a group.  
He stepped in the doorway, glancing at all of them and getting ready to be questioned.  
“About damn time, you were supposed to be here hours ago.”  
“Hours?” Ryan retorted.   
“Alright, alright. Only a half-hour. Still. Sit your ass down, I’m trying to explain our next heist.”  
So Ryan, confused out of his mind, sat down next to Gavin, giving him side glances. All the brit did was turn to the older with a wide grin, cheerily greeting him with a kiss to the ‘cheek’ of the skull mask. Geoff paused to swat Gavin on the head, saying something about being gay later and paying attention now. Gavin complied, turning back to the front of the room, and Ryan was frozen in place with the realization that Gavin hadn’t ratted on him yet.

 

It wasn’t brought up at all that day.  
Or the next day.  
Or the next week, or month.  
And even after all that time had passed, even after Ryan had guessed that Gavin just didn’t know, that unsettling feeling would not leave him. In the back of his mind it settled and nagged at him- the one person to see his face was someone he wished he trusted.  
But he didn’t, Ryan thought to himself one day while sitting on the roof of the apartment building. He didn’t trust Gavin, as much as he loved him. Gavin gave him a feeling of unease, like the lad was holding a secret he couldn’t tell a soul.  
“Come here often?”  
Ryan jumped, whirling around to see Gavin standing near the center of the roof, looking out past him. _Think of the devil and he will appear_ , Ryan thought grimly, getting up. Gavin glanced to him, smiling tightly.   
“Something Geoff need me for?”  
“No- not yet. I need you, though. Need to talk to you about something.”  
“...alright. What about?”  
“You, James.”  
Ryan froze, taking a shaky breath before standing and turning towards Gavin, who was looking at him, poker faced. Unable to say a word, he waited.  
“James Ryan Haywood. Son of Markus Haywood, founder of the world’s leading ammunition company. A rich kid from a rich family with a rich life. And you became a murderer for hire to avoid it all.”  
“How do you know this?”  
Gavin’s confidence drained, and he nervously glanced away, beginning to twist his hands together some more.  
Ryan suddenly recalled a scene not unlike this from years ago, except the situation was so much different. Two young heirs to two incredible empires, naive, uncomfortable, nervous. And a few years after, still in the past, but not by much, he got his newest job- to bring a british rich kid back alive to his father. The job lead him to the city, the city lead him to the crew, and the crew, inadvertently, lead him here.  
“David Free Junior,” Ryan whispered, and he understood. The clothing, the bike, the unease, the secrets. Why he refused to leave the city limits, why he’d told Geoff he’d been running- no one had known from what.  
“You’re David Free. You’re-”  
“The only son of the biggest mafia boss in the state. Yeah.”  
Gavin’s shaky breath became a laugh. He looked down at his hands, clenching them tightly, and faced away from Ryan. “I was born into this whole thing. Raised on it, trained in it. But it wasn’t right. I was trained to be the boss and I knew I couldn’t handle that. I was restless. I wanted to be the one to do the shit, not the one who told other people to do the shit.  
“Now, you have to understand my father was an alcoholic, and not the kind that Geoff is, and my mother wasn’t really around. At all. So one night when my dad told me I’d get it all, I told him no. I told him I didn’t want it. And he was super drunk- it was scary. He got really, really angry, all red in the face, and then he- well- he...”  
During the entire spiel, Gavin’s nails had dug so tightly into his skin he was drawing blood. Ryan quickly turned the younger man to face him, taking his hands and holding them tight in his own.   
“Every time I found somewhere I thought I could hide, he’d find me. And they’d all die. So I started lying about myself. Used my middle name and everything. But when people found out, they got scared. News traveled fast- “ _Don’t be caught with the Free kid. You’ll get killed, wiped out._ ” Etcetera, etcetera. I was always kicked out, and I got it, I knew. But here- they don’t know, and I really don’t want them to know- this is home, this is what I wanted all along, I can’t go- And if they learn, I’m so afraid they’re gonna be the ones to actually off me one day, y’know?”  
Ryan could do it. Ryan could get rid him right now, could call up the guys if he wanted to, he could tell them everything. A heavy silence had settled over the two of them, Gavin looking at the ground, his hands still in Ryan’s. He hadn’t said anything for a month now. He wasn’t going to say anything.  
And the gent pulled the lad into a tight hug instead, because this was Gavin giving it all up. He was so scared, and Ryan was scared for him, almost. He wouldn’t leave him alone, not anymore. This was a mutual trust.  
“I don’t want to leave.”  
“I promise you, you won’t be. I won’t tell anyone.”  
“I...”  
Gavin trailed off. There was clearly something he wanted to say, but he didn’t, just hugging him and calming down.  
“We’ll be fine as long as the others don’t know.”  
So all they had to do was act normal.

 

It lasted a week.  
After that, Gavin gradually became jittery and nervous around the rest of them, resorting to twisting his hands. Michael began the questions, and the rest picked up quickly,  
and though Gavin mostly managed to keep them off, after a while no amount of reassurances and goofy smiles could get them keep them away without a skeptical look.  
Ryan did his best to comfort the lad with quiet words and minuscule hand squeezes that he hoped no one could see. Gavin seemed to be more relaxed around him. The two fell into a pattern, and eventually, they fell into an actual relationship.  
Geoff noticed- why wouldn’t he notice, Geoff was the father Gavin should have gotten. Ryan got pulled aside once, and the grip on his arm was bruising as he was dragged into the hallway just outside of Geoff’s apartment.  
“If you’re fucking him for some type of leverage, if you’re dicking around with his feelings, I’ll kill you myself, and it’ll be ten times more painful than whatever you’ve done to the poor assholes you’ve ‘interrogated’ for us. Capiche?”  
"Yessir.”  
Just like that, Geoff was back to his cheery self, clapping Ryan on the back and walking back inside, laughing about love struck idiots. The threat stuck with Ryan. Not because he was scared of Geoff. He just kept thinking about what would happen if he did lose Gavin.

 

Imagine how he felt when one morning he woke up to an empty room and a note on the pillow.  
A few missed calls and a bunch of angry texts, mostly from Geoff saying where the fuck is my kid, and one apologetic text that meant everyone had gotten some type of note. But the more he read it, the more he didn’t understand- it was very short, very messy.

_I had to go._   
_I’m sorry._

_-Gavin_

He really was just gone.

 

A couple months passed after he left.  
The crew got around the fact that Gavin was missing. They didn’t question it, they didn’t look for him, as per the other four notes he’d left. But they steered clear of Ryan, left him alone, and they didn’t mention it.  
Ryan tried to forget.  
Los Santos fell to them, so they expanded their limits beyond the city itself. People were starting to know about the Fake AH Crew, they were learning. Some knew to stay away when they heard gunshots or saw the police in the streets. News crews reported, smaller gangs attempted alliances and very few got some. Some tried to fight. Most were crushed.  
They got attention, they got popularity. Good-  
And bad.

 

The Free mafia began their attack two years after Gavin had left.  
It was an endless onslaught of lackeys that got Geoff so fed up he eventually staged an attack. A heist of sorts, right on the home.  
Michael and Ray would go for a full frontal attack, straight through the front doors and taking out everyone they could. Jack was going to get in her jet and fly in with a missile attack to any side businesses they knew were working for the mafia, and when given the all clear, she’d parachute and join the lads. Geoff would be scouting out the house itself. And Ryan was going to track down the head of the mafia.  
It took him thirty minutes to find a little run down motel on the edge of the city they were in. He looked in every room, saw many unpleasant sites-  
And found a way up onto the rooftop.  
Ryan climbed up, his gun drawn, and noticed that there was indeed a figure, looking up at the sky, his back turned. He took the gun, holding it up to the boss’ head, ready to fire-  
And he hesitated. There were no bodyguards, no lackeys, no one. He must’ve known they were coming, he had to have. Why hadn’t he protected himself?  
“Aren’t you gonna do it?”  
“ _Gavin,_ ” Ryan breathed, and the man turned with a sad smile. There he was- after two years of being gone, no explanation, there he was.  
“They sent you to kill me, didn’t they? I’m surprised it took you this long to find me- honestly, I’ve been everywhere. I haven’t moved, really. When dad died two years back, they called on me- told me if I didn’t get back to run the mafia they’d kill us all, y’know?”  
Ryan’s gun arm had dropped, just watching Gavin. The kid was visibly shaking now, clearly more upset than ever.  
“So, I left. I knew you’d tell them, so what was the bloody point in staying? You’d off me anyways. I always expected it to be you.”  
“Gavin-”  
“Stop teasing me, Ry, just do it.”  
“Gavin, I didn’t tell them.”  
That made him stop, and they lapsed into silence as Gavin looked up to Ryan, shock etched on his face.   
“You... didn’t...”  
Ryan shook his head once. “I promised, remember?”  
Gavin hiccuped slightly, and Ryan noticed that he’d actually started crying. A few seconds later and he was enveloped in a hug, which he returned just as tightly, and they stood like that for a long time.   
“I thought you’d break it. Every time, someone promised, and every time, someone broke it. I couldn’t bear that, not from you.”  
“Never, Gavin. I couldn’t do that to you.”

 

The Free mafia fell without it’s boss.  
The Fake AH Crew lost two members of the original team- Gavin having gone missing so long ago, Ryan being assumed killed after he did his job.  
No one talked about them.  
In reality, Ryan knew that as much as he was happy with the crew, he’d always been better on his own. He had to leave them behind and get back into his own business. Just a freelance murderer, a pay-per-use criminal. But of course, he wasn’t really alone.  
Gavin had a knack for wrapping anyone around his pinky finger, and a long time ago, Ryan thought he wouldn’t get pulled in.   
He was so wrong.  
To hell with any crews, any mafias, any other person.  
Gavin didn’t mind his methods, and he didn’t mind Gavin (all of the time).

  
Ryan can’t believe he fell for this clumsy, British idiot.  
He wouldn’t change it for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and stuff would be appreciated


End file.
